Chapter 713 – The Exiled Church’s Base and White Blankets

000

When the intense light that had obscured their vision slowly began to subside, the place where the group was standing was a space completely opposite to the space surrounded by wood under the boat where they had been before.

A space where magic lights that create a much brighter light than the magic lights that light up the streets of the kingdom were tightly embedded in the ceiling, and the walls and floor were made of metal.

And in the space where they were standing, there was a magic circle drawn that looked the same as the magic circle used a little while ago, so it was clear that they were a pair.

“… There is no one around. Is it really like this?”

When Aine, who had been preparing in advance for fear of arriving immediately for battle, said that and took her hand off the handle of her sword, Arnia, who was also in a fighting stance, also lowered her arms and looked around.

“This place does not exist in my database. I think it’s because I used my own transfer magic when I sortied.”

[If there are no people, it’s lucky for us. Arnia, check the magatama. I need to find out if I came to the right place.]

It would be a disaster if I were to say that I had moved somewhere far away.

When Laila added and explained, Arnia seemed to understand and held up the magatama once again to check the flow of her magical power.

Then, the magic power of the magatama that was pointing downwards was trying to guide them by pointing correctly horizontally – forward.

“Confirmed. The tracking target is in the same place we are now.”

When her confirmation was completed and her answer came back, Aine sighed and seemed a little relieved.

“Then let’s find it quickly. I’m sure Quartz is waiting for help too.”

[The original purpose is reconnaissance, so we need to proceed cautiously. If you happen to run into an enemy and become dangerous, I will immediately bring Arnia back. Aine, you must stick to Arnia at that time and not fall away.]

Their strategy is to retreat using Arnia’s ability to retreat by transferring to a designated location.

To rescue Quartz, the first step is to understand the structure of this facility, how much security there is, and what exactly Quartz’s current situation is.

Aine hesitates for a moment after hearing Cleon’s words, but she nods her head as if she understands.

After receiving Aine’s promise, Laila turns to Arnia and speaks.

[Okay, then let’s move slowly. Arnia, heat sensor mode activated!]

＂Enter the heat sensor mode. By using the heat tracking of living creatures around you, you can estimate the number and location of humans beyond the wall.”

When she raised both hands while making a whining or clanking sound, a film that was not there before was covered over the lenses that made up her eyes, and she looked around.

[There was such a function as well…? If there was such a thing, wouldn’t it have been possible to see through her armor or beyond the illusion when Kuzuha and I switched to deceive her Enrai?]

“I did not use that function because I was not instructed to use it. Enlai was an incompetent person who could not understand even 30% of his functions.”

Looking at her sharp words, Cleon gets the impression that she considers serving Enlai as her master to be a kind of dark history.

In any case, if we had such a function, we could proceed a little more cautiously.

“Currently, there is no organic life in the passage. I think now is the best time to move.”

Saying those words, Arnia took the lead and left the large magic circle room they were in.

Aine followed closely behind her and muffled her footsteps in order not to fall off and not be detected.

＂…＂

As soon as she steps out into the aisle, Arnia stops her feet so suddenly that she also stops and looks where her eyes are directed.

Then, there was a machine flying inside the passage that had captured Arnia and was looking this way.

The sound of the small propeller spinning menacingly above her head was noisy, but Aine and Arnia’s bodies and faces froze at the same time.

[There were definitely no human guards outside…]

＂The machine is outside the search range of the heat sensor…＂

When she said that as if it was unfair and looked at the surveillance flying machine, for some reason the machine did not attack right away and just quietly watched the group.

＂… W-what is it…?＂

Seeing some strange movement, Aine asks Arnia a question, and Arnia answers.

“It looks like the machines haven’t entered the latest information about me yet. This machine does not recognize me as an intruder. And you who are with me.”

[Update is slow! … If laymen don’t know, and machines don’t know either. Is it really information from the executives that we know that you have become our colleague?]

In that case, I thought the story would really get easier, and Laila let out a sigh of relief beyond her familiar.

“Now, so as not to raise suspicion, let’s appeal to this poor machine as a new member of the church.”

“Uh. Appeal… How about it─＂

While Aine was speaking, Arnia stretched out her hand and pulled her cheek, making a V shape with her index and middle fingers.

＂This is it. Then, I will move along with the magatama.”

＂Well, what you just did was a necessary task…?＂

Cleon watches Aine talk as if something is wrong with her, and she talks to Arnia, who continues to push forward at her own pace.

[By combining the approximate distance and direction provided by Gogok and the information about this facility that you personally have, Arnia, how could you not find out in advance?]

“… It’s possible. Executes the master’s commands first and collects information from the owned database and Magatama…”

After hearing Cleon’s words, Arnia stiffened for a moment as if the idea had never occurred to her, but she soon followed his orders and first identified the location of the quartz.

[I’m guessing it’s a prison or a concentration camp… Maybe a place like an infirmary to use her medical skills…]

“The search results are in. She is currently… Moving freely within this facility.”

[Huh?]

Laila reacts in confusion when Arnia gives a completely unexpected answer.

Of course, she didn’t show it, but Cleon did the same, and Aine, who was right next to her, didn’t have to say anything either.

[Wait, isn’t something wrong? She is here because she was kidnapped, but she can move freely…]

＂…! Perhaps Quartz escaped on his own and is looking for a way out. Let’s hurry up and meet you!”

She was Aine with hopeful observations, but she had no clue what was going on at the moment.

Therefore, as she said, there was a possibility that Quartz might be trying to escape on his own.

＇… However, it is also true that the inside of the base is very quiet…’

So, neither Cleon nor Lila could see the situation in a hopeful way, but they had no choice but to follow the hints indicated by the magatama.

001

As they moved around the interior of the Exile Church’s facility, Aine and Arnia were trying to move forward while seeing as much as possible and remembering it in their minds.

However, no matter where you look, they are all the same white walls, ceilings, floors, decorations, and magical power.

And, although you may be surprised by flying machines that appear from time to time, and you cannot tell if they are for reconnaissance or facility maintenance, the other side will not attack unless you attack them first.

However, the fact that they could not even see a shadow of a person on the way here, and that Quartz’s movement path was unpredictable, and that they had to move around this maze-like facility was tiring for the group.

＂Are there really so few people here…?＂

When Aine finally couldn’t bear it and asked that question, Arnia shook her head and answered.

“It was usually a quiet atmosphere, but it was never this quiet. It’s my first time seeing no one there.”

[Has everyone gone out?]

[The weather is nice today, so I might have gone out for a walk. If I stay at the bottom of the sea all the time, I’ll feel dizzy.]

When Cleon and Laila exchange a joke, Arnia silences her for a moment, and then she answers Aine.

“Anyway, it’s clear that this is not a normal situation. Take sufficient caution…”

She was about to say that she should proceed with caution, but she soon noticed a change in something about her as she examined her magatama once again and opened her mouth.

＂While the distance to the target point still remains, the movement of the target has stopped.＂

“… In other words, Quartz’s movement has stopped.”

Aine sighs in relief at the fact that they can finally meet, and Cleon and Lila still look nervous.

In case something went wrong, Arnia was prepared to use the return device inside her at any time.

And when she follows Aine’s footsteps and goes to the place where she expected Quartz to be, the path that greets them is a dead end.

When Aine is a little embarrassed by the fact that she can’t even see the shadow of a quartz person in an empty place, she turns to Arnia.

＂Arnia, is this right?＂

And, the gap she saw when she looked back like that.

As if it was aiming for that, like darkness crawling out of an empty place, a black gale rushed straight towards Aine.

[Aine!]

In a split second, when Cleon’s voice, which was observing the situation, burst out from her familiar, Aine quickly turned her body and drew her sword.

Kaang! What they encounter while making a sound is Aine’s sword and the sword of the person who attacked Aine.

Both swords caused strong vibrations, and when the aftereffects of the impact were scattered in the air, Arnia was able to shake the assailant, who had come out of nowhere from nowhere, away from Aine by swinging an electric wire.

＂Ugh… Suddenly from somewhere… As expected, it was a trap… ＂

Aine looked down at her sword in an exasperated voice, and then slowly, she looked at the frown of the target she had been fighting with just a moment ago, and then she looked somewhat surprised.

[… Wait.]

It was the same for Lila.

Her attire, aimed at Aine, was a young woman wearing a white blanket and hat.

In other words, she was wearing the same clothes as Aine, but with her colors reversed, she attacked Aine.

＂Who are you…?＂

Although she does not exist in her own memories, her body remembers her and is embarrassed by her swordsmanship, but keeps her distance.

Then the woman in the white blanket smiled and wiggled her index finger, telling him to attack quickly.

Hey, this is a kid who realized he was being looked down on.

Moreover, if you look closely, even the shape of the sword she holds in her hand looks similar to Aine’s.

[Wait a minute, Aine. No matter how you look at that stubborn person, he is related to you! What happened?]

When she said that to Aine because she was so surprised, Aine opened her eyes and rushed at her.

[Ah, if you rush at me so recklessly…!]

Lila tries to stop Aine, but she realizes that now is not the time, and she talks to Arnia.

[Arnia! So, do you think you can find out where Mr. Quartz is?!]

＂Currently searching. The heat sensor detected only one organic life form. Aine is a woman fighting.”

As Arnia’s eyes move, she looks around her once again, but in this place, she still sees the only people who attacked her and Aine.

Even though she held up the magatama, she couldn’t give an exact location, and it was just spinning around like a compass in the desert.

However, among them, only Cleon was watching the fight between Aine and her white blanket attacker, as if quietly observing the situation.

As expected, it wasn’t just my mood, the techniques they used were exactly the same.

“Answer me! Where on earth did you learn that swordsmanship?”

＂…＂

As if it were a mirror image, rather than just copying and using Aine’s sword techniques –

Rather, it seemed as if Aine was using a copy of her technology, while the other side seemed to be the original.

It’s a strange story, as Aine learned her swordsmanship from Quartz, she was the best martial artist she ever raised.

＂Stop using that sword technique…! That sword technique was created to protect the people of this country from nobles!”

How strange it must have been that her technique seemed to mimic someone else’s.

However, there is a truth that can resolve such discomfort once and for all.

Cleon and Aine must have desperately wanted to look away from that truth.

“… If you don’t quit-!”

The next moment, Aine’s body spun around, and she fell back, and a powerful deadly force suddenly erupted from her whole body.

At the same time, the posture is that the sword is held horizontally with both hands and raised to the same level as her eyes.

If she were to receive that deadly force with her whole body, it would be so sharp and heavy that her body would have no choice but to stiffen as a human.

Just as the magical pressure emitted by assassins has the characteristic of indiscriminately cutting down the surrounding area, Aine’s magical pressure seemed to paralyze her target on the spot.

However, the attacker in the white blanket who received the deadly attack only flinched for a moment and did not seem to be stopped in his actions.

Rather, as if to provoke her, he held her perfectly identical posture-

Keying! And, while emitting a deadly force so intense and terrifying that it deafened her ears, she aimed it at Aine.

＂Kuh…＂

When the pressure tightened around her body to the point where her posture faltered, Arnia pulled her wires out of her own arms to help her straighten out.

However, towards Arnia, the blanket girl quickly pulled something out of her arms and threw it.

＂…!＂

Arnia, who realized that it was the dragon’s giant stinger, swung her wire to block it.

It was almost at the same time that her body shot out like a cannonball and lunged at Aine.

Aine was a little late in her movements and jumped into her with her.

A master’s unity.

Anyone can see that both sides have reached a level worthy of being called masters.

In a duel between two people, the outcome was determined by their sum.

Kang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard once again, each sliding behind the other.

Because of the shock when her sword and sword collided, Arnia felt as if her body was momentarily frozen.

The two prosecutors stood still for several seconds and then—

＂Ssssswat… Keuuuuu…!”

A large amount of blood poured out from the shoulder of her right arm, which was holding her sword, and she collapsed in her seat.

[Aine!]

With that alone, it was not difficult to know whose victory was in the unity just now.

But, at the same time-

＂…＂

The hat on the head of the woman in the white blanket fell to the ground as if it had been cut off.

The white blanket she was wearing also fell apart on both sides, as if it had been cut in the middle.

However, because she was wearing a black inner suit under her body, she did not suddenly become naked.

When she was revealed, she was a woman who appeared to be in her late teens or early 20s with a very different vibe from Aine.

Her dark, almost navy blue hair is tied in a ponytail, and she looks back with a straight back.

Her eyes were darker than her hair, almost black, but her skin was not pale, so it was clear that she was not a member of the dark horse family.

Thanks to the inner suit, a material that clings to her body, it was clear that her body was that of a woman who had trained the muscles of her entire body efficiently and to the extreme.

It must have taken quite a long time and effort, literally cutting into her bones, to create a body suitable for wielding a sword the size of her own height, while maintaining the lightness of her body.

[…

But Cleon also felt something from her appearance.

[Cleon! Bring Arnia back! Aine needs to be treated immediately!]

“It’s okay. Her blood just came out in a flash… It wasn’t like she was cut or anything like that…”

[What is that?]

“It’s just as she said. Because I had no intention of killing him from the beginning.”

＂…＂

Finally, when she opened her mouth, her voice was just as expected, powerful enough to be heard even in a quiet place.

[As expected…]

When Cleon reacted like that, Laila looked at him as if asking what was going on.

But soon, when Aine looks back at her, struggling to raise her body.

As if she couldn’t understand, she opened her mouth and called out to her.

＂Elder… Quartz. Why, why did you attack us…?”

When her student spoke with a face on the verge of tears, as if asking him to tell her that she was lying, she only smiled bitterly.

The person who attacked Aine – the attacker with the white mark.

It was she, Quartz, who brought them here to rescue them.